Mechanism for handling fastenings



June 3 1924. 1,495,981

C. C. BLAKE MECHANISM FOR HANDLING FASTENINGS 'Original Filed July 154-1918 VEA/TDR Patented June 3, 1924.

y'UNITEDY STATES PATENTS oFIcE. i

CHARLES c. BLAKE, or BRQOKLINE,l MAssAonUsnTTsAs'srenoR roo. yofVRL ,A1:Q.. INCORPORATED, oF RosronMAssAcnUsnTrs, A ooRroRaTron on NRWYoRK. y

MncHANIsM RoR HANDLING rA'sTnNInGs.

Application filedA July 15,1918, Serial No. f ej'?. RenewediNovember'B, 1923L T` all whom t may concern;

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. BLAKE, a citizen of the IUnited States, residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinventedl cer tain Improvements in Mechanism for Han? dling Fastenings, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on vthe drawings indicating like parts in the several figures. This invention relates to mechanisms' for handling fastenings and similar yarticles to select or arrange them in a predetermined manner. The invention will be herein disclosed as embodied yin a mechanism for arranging tacks, nails and the like for delivery7 'f to a fastening inserting mechanism." It is the general object ofthe invention to devise a mechanism of thev character indicated which will be simple in construction, reliable in operation, will require a minimum of' attention and can `be economically manufactured.

To the accomplishment of these objects the invention involves certain novel combination andy arrangement of partsv and details of construction, the Vnature of which will be readily understood from the following description of one embodiment of` the invention and the novel features of which will be particularly pointed out in the appendedV claims.

'In the accompanying' drawings f Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in cross section, of amechanism embodying the invention in the form at present pre- M ferred;` l

` Fig. 2 is a verticalcross sectional viewof the mechanism shownl in Fig. 1;- l

vFig. 3 is a plan lview of the 'mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the casing being shown in cross section in-order betterlvto i1- lustrate the enclosed parts; and 1 Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the manner in which the 'end ofthe picker is distended at certain times. v 'l The mechanism shown comprises al tack pot or hopper 2 adapted to containa quantity of tacks, nails or-other fastenings. This hopper consists of an upper stationary mem- Y ber a and a lower member b that is rotatable in a horizontalfplane. The part Zn rests on a @011er 3 and is provided with down page 1; and 5, respectively, that project into suitf able holes in the upper'face of'thecollar and which compel the'lower part b off the hopper to rotate with the collar. The coly lar isdriven by Sa wormgear 6 fast-on av short'vertical shaft 7' that rotates in bearings 8 formed in the machine frame. A rod- 7 9pprojects centrally' through the shaft and carries a` key'10 at its Lipper endfwhfich litsinto a recess'in'the lower face of the collar 3 v'and thus forms a .f driving connection be-- tween the worm gear'6 `andthe collar. i A

worm 12 mounted' on the 'driving shaft 13 of the mechanism l meshes with Ithe worm gear 6 Vand drivesit, the shaft libein'g v.pro-

videdwith a pulley-M 'which may be belted to any convenient source of-'pofwen` v"The `upper part ct ofi-thev hopper 2 merelyy machine, this coverbeing provided with an aperture 16 throughwhich tacks or other fastenings may bethrown into the hopper 2.

A. stationary raceway 17 leads through an aperture provided in the upper part zgof the hopper and is supportedby abracket-18 bolted to the machine frame'.` The raceway leads the 'fastenings to the/point at whichit isdeSired to-deliver vthem and a mechanism isv provided to pick up the fastenings from thetumbled mass inthe hopper 2and deliver them to the raceway 17. This mecha? nism comprises two pickers 20 both mounted to rotate a'vertical plane and arranged to swing alternately through thebody of fastenings in the hopper. Each picker consists of an arm-curved forwardly in thedirection` of its rotative movement, `as besty shown in Figf2, and slotted throughout its entire length and lwidth except atv 'a small portion "ofits shank. Thepickers are con-y nected to a shaft21 'supported horizontally in'` bearings formed integrally' with the cover 15 and it is rotatedI by a belt connection with the main driving `shaft 13. In order to supportthe pickers the shaft 21 has fixed to it ay collar 23 to `which is bolted an elongated plate; 24 that extends at opposite sides of the shaft in the general direction of the length of the pickers.

The pickers are 'secured lto the opposite ends of this platev24`-by bolts these rails.

25 extending through the unslotted portions ot' the pickers and the pickers are spaced from the plate 24, by collars, one of which is indicatedA at 26, Fig. l, that encirclethe bolts 25.

It will now be evident that as each picker 2O swings through the mass of tacks in the hopper 2 the Shanks or points of certain ot the tacks will enter the space between the rails of the picker and the heads of the tacks will rest on the forward edges of As the picker rises it will lift the tacks` so engaged out ot' the body of tacks; in the hopper and the tacks so picked up will slide downwardly under the inluence of gravity from the point or end` portion of the picker toward the shank of the picker. 'vented from slidingl off theshanks of the pickers by a, central stationary member 27 which, as shown in Fig.A 2, has a periphery that is. circular except at its upper side and the shank of each picker engages this cir` cifilar peripheral portion during the greater part of; its rotative movement. The edge of the upper part of this member 27 is out ott` or flattened. as indicated at 2 8, Fig. 2, and is shaped to form one rail of a short raceway 29, the other rail'otI this raceway beingV secured to the part 27 by screws.l The mem,- ber 27 is secured tothe cap l5 by screws 32, Fig., 3..

then the forward tack supporting surface of one of the pic-kers 20 comes into alinement with the upper end of the surface 28 the tacks resting on the shank portion of the picker slide on to. itand run down the raceway 29 on to the raceway 17. A, short gap 3.0- is provided between the lower end ot the raceway 29 and the upper end ofy the raceway 17 so that in case the raceway 17 is full the tacks will drop through the space 30 and; tall back into thev hopper 2. If. however, the raceway 17 is not full the tacks will merely jump the gap 30, and slide down the raceway 1'7. This action continues as long as the pickers are rotated and the hopper is supplied with tacks,` the end portion of eac-h picker lifting atew tacks as it swings upwardly on each rotative movement and these tacks sliding down on tov the shank of the picker toward its axis o'E rotation and then jumping oliv the pic-ker on to the. raceway 28 when the tack supporting surface of the pic-ker comes into. alinement with the surface of the race-l way. The number of tacks lifted by each picker during a single rotation is relatively sinall but obviously a suilicient number of pickers can be used to supply tacks to the raceway fastergthank they are required by the machine orA apparatus to which the tacks are delivered; by the raceway 17.k

After the pickers have passed their delivery poi-nt, that is the point at which the These tacks, however. are pre` fastenings slide oli' the shank of the picker on to the raceway 28, it is desirable to clear each picker of any tacks that may still be resting on it. This is particular-ly true in case a. defective fastening has become stuck between the rails of the picker. In order to effect this result a short wedge 3l is fastened into the top of the cover l5 which surrounds the pickers and this wedge is located in a position to enter between the rails of each picker and spread these rails apart at a time when the forward or tack supporting surface of the picker is on the lower side of the picker arm. This spreading of the rails at this particular point in the rotation the pickervforces. the rails so far apart that any fastenings that have become wedged between them will be released and will drop back into'the hopper. As soon as the picker has passedout of contact with the Wedge 3l the rails will return again to their normal positions, due to their ownA resiliency,`

in readiness to perforljn their tack picking ope-ration when the picker is a fain rnoved hroughthe body of tacks in the f opper.

It will readily be understood that the rotation of the lower part b ofthe hopper greatly facilitates the tack picking operationsinceit causes a substantially continuous movement oft the astenings into the path otmovement of the picker and thus enables the picker to perform its. function ont taking fastenings from the hopper and delivering them to the` racewayuntil the supply otffastenings in the hopper has become substantially exhausted. It willalso.

be seen that the mechanism is very'simple in construction, requires practically no attention on the part of the operative other than to keep thehopper supplied with fastenings and that it can be very economically manufactured.

VV'hile I have herein shown and described the best embodiment of theinvention of which I am at present aware, it will readily be understood'by those skilled. in this art that this embodiment may be varied in the arrangement of' parts and in the details of l construction without departing fromv the spirit or scope of this invention. also be evident that certain features of the invention are applicable yto an apparatus designed to handle different types of fastenings than` the tacks and nails for which the apparatus shown is particularly designed, or to handle other articles havingcharacteristics which enable them to be handled, arranged. or manipulated in the same general manner that fastenings yare handled and arranged. Consequently the term-fastenings as herein employed is used, where the context permits,- in a ge- It will neric sense to designate articles capable 'of bei-ng handled and arranged in the same general manner as fastenings.

Vhat is claimed as new, is:

1. A mechanism for handling fastenings, having, in combination, a hopper constructed to hold a body of fastenings, a picker movable through said body of fastenings and comprising a pair of spaced rails, and means for spreading said rails apart at a predetermined point in the movement of said picker.

2. A mechanism for handling astenings, having, in combination, a hopper constructed to hold a body of fastenings, a picker movable through said body of fastenings and comprising a pair of spaced rails, a raceway to which said picker delivers fastenings at a certain point in its movement, and means for Spreading said rails'apart after the picker has passed its delivery point.

3. A mechanism for handling fastenings, having, in combination, a hopper constructed to hold a body of fastenings, a picker comprising a pair of spaced rails arranged to support a string of fastenings,

operating means for said picker arranged to move the free end of the picker through said body of fastenings, and means constructed and positioned to enter between said rails at said free end of the picker at a predetermined point in its operative movement to spread said rails apart.

4. A mechanism for handling headed fastenings, comprising, in combination, a hopper for holding a supply of said fastenings, a rotatable picker comprising a pair ofl spaced rails, said picker having anend por-l tion movable through said body of fastenings to pick up fastenings therefrom and having another portion along which the fastenings so picked up slide in. a direction away from said end and toward the aXis of rotation of the picker, a raceway having a part about which said picker rotates and on to which the fastenings carried by the picker slide under the iniluence of gravity, and means for spreading the rails of said picker at a point in each rotation thereof after it has delivered its fastenings to said raceway and before it enters said body oil fastenings again.

In testimony whereof I havesigned my name to this specification.

oHARLEs o. BLAKE. 

